The present invention is related to pressure and level gauges, and more particularly to a gauge having adjustable activating means by which multiple xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d may be set for activating an alarm device.
There are well known the pressure and fluid level gauges for providing information about oil level or pressure level.
Said pressure and level gauges normally comprise a gauge movement responsive to a sensed condition, which moves an indicator needle for indicating said sensed condition over a scale dial.
Some gauges include adjustable activating alarm means for setting an alarm to be activated at a predetermined sensed value.
A gauge having adjustable activating alarm means is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,977 which claims: xe2x80x9ca pressure gauge having a turning button, a turning semi-disc and a sliding block disposed thereon that, through a protruding wheel fixed on the needle shaft moves the sliding block to force a contact point of a conducting metal piece to contact with a contact point of the turning semi-disc, can start an alarm in case the needle of the gauge comes to reach the designated pressurexe2x80x9d.
With the above referred gauge the user is able to set only one xe2x80x9calarm pointxe2x80x9d, therefore, the user can""t set several xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d at various pressure values at the same time.
Another gauge having adjustable activating alarm means is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,242 which claims xe2x80x9ca diver""s air tank pressure gauge having audible and visual alarms, an alarm pointer for indicating the pressure at which the alarms will activate, and a crank assembly for changing the position of the alarm pointer. The pressure gauge dial has a cutout for limiting the travel of the alarm pointer between acceptable high and low pressure limits. When the air tank pressure equals a preset alarm pressure, an electrical circuit is completed which activates the alarms. The diver can then turn off the alarms by resetting the alarm indicator to a lower pressure setting and continue the dive at a shallower depthxe2x80x9d.
With the above referred gauge it is possible to set only one alarm point corresponding to one predetermined pressure value, therefore, in order to set the alarm to a second pressure value, it is necessary to reset the alarm indicator.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a gauge in which multiple xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d may be set, which is useful to set xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionsxe2x80x9d between lower and upper limits in the scale dial values.
In view of the above referred needs, applicants developed a gauge having adjustable activating meansxe2x80x94for activating, say an alarmxe2x80x94in which multiple alarm pointsxe2x80x94or tolerance value regionsxe2x80x94can be set.
Applicants gauge having adjustable activating means comprises: a movement case including a front open portion and a back portion, a gauge movement responsive to a sensed condition located inside the case and driving a rotary gauge shaft and an indicator needle indicating said sensed condition on a scale dial, wherein the adjustable activating means comprising: a plurality of at least two rotating adjusting guides mounted on the rotary gauge shaft; activating means attached to each adjusting guide; bump means for each rotating adjusting guide, said bump mean restricting the rotation of each adjusting guide thus defining a limited rotation arc thereof which is representative of a predetermined range in a scale dial; cam means coupled to the rotary gauge shaft close to the plurality of adjusting guides, said cam means rotating together with the rotary gauge shaft and defining a circular path as the rotary gauge shaft rotates, therefore, when the cam means make contact with one of the activating means of an adjusting guide, sad activating means send and electric signal to the alarm means, thus activating said alarm to inform an operator that a measurement value has been achieved, said value defined by the position of an adjusting guide.
With the use of the rotating adjusting guides, it is possible to set multiple xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d in order to activate an alarm, for example, without using complicated mechanisms.
With applicant""s gauge, any user is allowed to set a plurality of xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d or the limits of a xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionxe2x80x9d between lower and upper limitsxe2x80x94for example oil level or temperaturexe2x80x94at which a device can operate safely.
Furthermore, the activating means may activate not only an alarm device, but any other device such as an electronic control which can send signals representative of corrective actions or adjustments to the controlled device in order to return the sensed conditions to the xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionxe2x80x9d.
Finally, applicants gauge can be adapted to sense many conditions such a as pressure, liquid levels etc., without needing important modifications in its movement and mechanism except for the scale dial.
It is therefore a main objective of the present invention, to provide a gauge having adjustable activating means which allows an user to set a plurality of xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d or the limits of a xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionxe2x80x9d between lower and upper limits.
It is another objective of the present invention, to provide a gauge having adjustable activating means of the above disclosed nature, wherein the activating means may activate an alarm or any other device such as an electronic control which can send signals representative of corrective actions or adjustments to the controlled device in order to return the sensed conditions to the xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionxe2x80x9d.
It is a further objective of the present invention, to provide a gauge having adjustable activating means of the above disclosed nature, which allows an user to set a plurality of xe2x80x9calarm pointsxe2x80x9d or the limits of a xe2x80x9ctolerance value regionxe2x80x9d between lower and upper limits without the use of complicated mechanisms.
It is still another main objective of the present invention to provide a gauge having adjustable activating means of the above disclosed nature, which can be adapted to sense many conditions such a as pressure, liquid levels etc., without needing important modifications in its movement and/or mechanisms except for the scale dial.
These and other objects and advantages of the gauge having adjustable activating means of the present invention will become apparent to those persons having an ordinary skill in the art, from the following detailed description of the invention which will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings.